Look After You
by Shizune-hime
Summary: Once upon a time, on a stormy night, milk and cookies do the trick to trigger quite a parental moment between a little ancient and a silver-haired guardian.  AU, with Aerith as a little girl. Finished! Aeriseph.


_**A/N:**____Oh mah gaaaaawd it's an Aeriseph drabble! :o_

_And I enjoyed writing this. xD This is for you, Coryyyy~ ^_^ Happy reading! _

_Well this was just something random that sparked up in my head due to a picture I got tagged in via an Aerith RP account I have on Facebook (if any of you RP on FB, feel free to message me! :o) _

_Anyway I'm sure some of you Aeriseph fans have seen it, it's that picture of Aerith seated on Sephiroth's shoulder as a little girl with Sephy winking and Aerith's cute emerald eyes just covered by her arms, folded on Seph's head, a bunch of small flowers in one hand WAAAAHHH too cute. xD I've been an Aeriseph sucker for over 2 years now and here's some sweet candy for you fans out there. OuO_

_**Sidenote:**____It's based on that pic I just said, where Aerith's a little girl and Seph is around his… teen years? They totally look like siblings in the pic, and I ABSOLUTELY ship this pairing. This is another songfic; title is based on the same song by The Fray. Totally simple, slightly random fic, hopefully you liked my attempt to usher its uber cuteness. o.o; Setting is.. well.. it's totally an AU, but i hope you like it. =3 _

**~"Look After You"~**

… One minute it was completely dark and the next, a brilliant spark from the thunder that crackled in the night sky, outside her window, lit the room. Simply reaching for the bedside lamp was scary for her; huddling under the covers was the only option available. So she did that, and somehow all her fears disappeared. Until another 2 minutes later, it happened again, and she shut her eyes as she restrained herself from squealing in fear.

Then footsteps thudded down the hall. She clearly remembered that she locked the front door late in the afternoon when he left; he must've just gotten home, she figured. Or maybe…

That was impossible. She had the key, and he told her to open the door once he attended to it. Was there another key?

She shook her head in fear and tried to calm herself down by singing anyway.

"Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket, never let it fade away…~"

She turned over to one side and, with her face and body still covered by the sheets, she thrust her arms out and grabbed all her pillows, huddling them around her like a fortress. Suddenly it seemed like it was just her, all alone; the pillows successfully barricaded the scary thunder. Continuing to sing, she curled up and fidgeted with her fingers.

The footsteps seemed to be faint, but they seemed to stop right at her door. A part of her wanted to just jump out and hide under the bed, while the other told her to just sing until she fell asleep. She opted for option B, hoping that he had a duplicate key. Her song started to lull her to sleep and she, somehow, smiled slightly. All noise was gone.

Well, that's what she thought.

While she drifted off to sleep, her bedroom door creaked open. The plastic bag in his hand crumpled against his leg.

"Aerith?"

No answer.

"Hm…"

The rain outside poured heavier now, but the thunder seemed less scary. It crackled outside and lit up the room again, though only for a short while, and he took it to his advantage to walk to the bedside and switch on the bedside lamp.

And there, on the bed, he recognized that the covers scrunched up underneath it every pillow on the bed and a… body?

He blinked and quietly, gently, reached over to see if it was really just a bunch of pillows, or there was really someone there. The mass of white on the bed didn't move once he unfurled the covers, so he took the chance to quietly take out all the pillows, and he could only chuckle when he saw Aerith there, in a little girl's dressing gown in pink, still wearing her pink ribbon on her hair as she was curled up.

As soon as he strode over to the window to check the rain outside, it was when he realized that she was scared of the thunder. Understandable, as when he was heading to town earlier to grab some groceries, the rain was really heavy, and she was all alone at home. He was really worried about getting home to watch over her, although he was aware she could do that on her own already even in her juvenile age.

"Sephy! You're home!"

He looked behind him and saw that while in his reverie, she had apparently just sat up. Aerith looked around. "Where are the pillows?"

Sephiroth chuckled. "I had to take them out, I was worried the bed swallowed you up, you know." He went over to place the plastic bag at the foot of the bed, and sat next to her on the edge of the bed as he patted her head gently. "Seems like you were scared of the thunder."

"Yeeeaaaah, I pretty much was." Aerith frowned and pulled up her knees, her lips giving that familiar, cute pout as her emerald eyes turned into slits. "You're late."

"I think I'm actually right on time, seeing as how you were trying to sleep." Sephiroth said. He looked out the window and then back to her. "I'm really sorry. So many people in town, and then the rain was heavy. It was a bit hard to go home."

"I thought a stranger broke in!" 

He blinked. "What made you think that?"

"You said I'd open the door in case you got home already, but you're late and I thought you were a stranger…"

He smiled

"I don't think we have another key, so I thought-"

"I actually had to get one just yesterday, for grocery shopping today, because I saw the weather report too. I had a feeling I'd be home late today, and here I am. Apparently, I'm late." He shuffled over to sit near her, and tugged her bow gently as he smiled. "You're such a worrywart."

"And you owe me cookies and milk!"

"Do I?" he pondered, eyeing the plastic bag for a while.

Aerith noticed this and grinned. "Yes. Aaaaand, a bedtime story." She folded her arms as she gave a pout again and sat upright.

Sephiroth smiled at her attempt to give a menacing look. "Very well. But we have to fix this up first, make you comfy, and then I'll get you what you want."

"Okay!"

He got up to grab the pillows on the couch nearby and he put them back where they belonged. Then he rushed to reach for the plastic bag, took out a pack of cookies and a small carton of milk, and gave it to her. Aerith beamed as she accepted them in her soft hands. As Sephiroth slipped off his shoes and moved to sit next to her, on the other side of the bed, his feet caught the little girl's attention.

"Whoa."

"Hm?"

"Grey socks?"

Sephiroth knew she was going to pick on him again for his color scheme.

"Why are you into dark colors? It's so gloomy."

He laughed. "Because they're the only colors I seem to look good in. You, on the other hand, look incredibly pretty wearing any color." He grabbed a pillow, set it behind him, and leaned back as he watched her eat.

"Wear yellow next time! Yellow means happiness!" she said, opening her now-hers pack of cookies and munching on one. "And blue means peace, green means luck, and-"

"And pink, means love." He smiled at her and she opened her cartoon of milk, sipping on it as she leaned back with him; the fact that Aerith was already happy accepting small gifts like food or a good snuggle, and that she smiled, made Sephiroth happy. Sephiroth pulled her close and snuggled her quietly. "So. What story do you want to hear about?"

"About…um… the Planet!"

"Again?" He sighed, chuckling. "I'll fall asleep on you again."

"Noooo, tell me a story about the Planet's energy. 'Cause I heard from some kids before you can use magic with it!"

"Oh, you mean the life force of the planet?" He nodded. "Well," he continued, holding her close, "okay. See, the Planet's life force is like an apple tree. Imagine an apple tree."

"An apple tree…"

"Mmhm." Sephiroth smiled. "When the tree gives fruit, what do you do?"

"We pick the apples!"

"Exactly. You call that 'harvesting'."

"Like when we get crops or rice?"

"Mmhm. And the same thing happens with the Planet," he said with a nod. "Like an apple, the planet's life force can be harvested. When this happens, some people make the life force special. That special thing is called mako."

"Mako?"

"Mmhm. And mako is used to make materia. Materias are small orbs you can hold and use, to use magic."

"Ohhh… I see it now!" Aerith beamed. Sephiroth chuckled at the curious tone her voice had. "So how do people use materia?"

"You concentrate on it reeeeeally hard - like you're making a wish." Sephiroth held up his hands and started to gesture, to boost her imagination. "There are materias that can heal people, and make them powerful for a while, and protect them. But some materias can hurt people. So you have to be careful."

"Ohhh." Aerith did her 'grabby hands' at him and compared the size of her hands with his. "Sephy, do you have materia?"

"I do." He nodded. "Fire, Ice, and Lightning, and Cure too."

"Cool! I have a materia too." Aerith nodded as she smiled, with such conviction while she happily ate her cookies and sipped her milk. The pack of cookies only had 3 and she finished them all; her carton of milk was consumed as well. After reaching over to slightly dim the bedside lamp to place the carton there, she crawled back to him after and snuggled again with him quietly as she sipped from her milk.

"You have a materia?"

"Yeah, but I dunno what it does," she said, shrugging. "Maybe 'cause I dunno how to use it."

"Where'd you get it?"

"Mommy gave it to me before she passed away."

Aerith never really talked about her parents, Sephiroth knew that much about her history, but he felt it was unfortunate that her mother passed away whilst she was small. Also, because of this, he felt a certain, special connection with her - he couldn't really describe it, but he felt extremely comfortable and happy when around her.

"Well maybe you should throw it away?"

Her green eyes widened. She frantically shook her head. "Mommy gave it to me, I have to keep it," She nodded, looking up at him.

"Seems like it's really special, then!"

"It is, it is," Aerith said, "I… kinda just know."

He smiled, knowing her prowess. "Alright, then, let's put it in a safe place, hm?"

"Right!" Aerith beamed. "We'll look for it tomorrow." She noticed his eyebags and tilted her head at him. "Sephy? Are you okay?" she asked.

He looked down at her with his blue-green eyes and blinked slightly. "I'm alright," he assured with a smile. "Just a little tired."

"Okay then. Bedtime!"

Sephiroth chuckled as he stroked her hair and looked out the window again. There was silence between them as the rainfall outside gradually toned down, but their breathing could be heard. He reckoned she was falling asleep, so he closed his eyes.

"…Catch a falling star, and put it in your pocket, never let it fade away…~"

The soft, melodic voice that belonged to Aerith made Sephiroth open his eyes and blink. He looked at her as she had her eyes closed too, apparently, as she laid her head on his chest and continued to sing quietly. Sephiroth could only listen as she began to hum another tune as he held her close, using his feet gently to help hook the covers on them and pull it up to his hands.

Covering them both from the cold, he stroked her hair and smiled, making a promise to himself he'd look after her for as long as he could.


End file.
